Investments

The Covid-19 crisis, unsurprisingly, has caused global energy investments to fall more than ever, with “serious implications” for security and the transition to alternative fuels, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Wednesday.

BlackRock Inc. founder and CEO Larry Fink this week said the company will shift how investments are allocated and exit stocks that “present a high sustainability-related risk,” including from some fossil fuel projects.

Global energy investments stabilized last year ending a three-year drought, with capital spending on natural gas, oil and coal surging, while expenditures stalled for energy efficiencies and renewables, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Black Hills Corp., with operations in eight states, has increased its five-year capital investment plans to $2.8 billion to focus on consolidating multiple natural gas utilities.

Newly released data from Cleveland State University’s (CSU) Energy Policy Center shows that investments in Ohio’s Utica Shale have reached $74 billion since 2011, when the first unconventional commercial production was reported and the school began tracking the play’s economic impacts.

Nine of the world’s top 10 places to invest in global oil and gas are in the United States, including eight states, according to the Fraser Institute’s annual survey.

ExxonMobil Corp. investors have been a little antsy about all of the capital investments over the past five years with seemingly little to show for it, CEO Rex Tillerson said last week. He acknowledged that a lot of money has been invested in projects yet to bear fruit and said the company’s forecast on U.S. natural gas prices didn’t hit the mark.

A trio of recently completed Oneok Partners LP projects will enhance North Dakota’s processing of natural gas and help reduce flaring in the state, according to Gov. Jack Dalrymple.

Private equity (PE) investments, which more than doubled in the U.S. oil and natural gas sector from 2002 to 2012, are showing no signs of drying up, according to PwC.